Meerea Park - 2005 'Alexander Munro' Shiraz

2005 'Alexander Munro' Shiraz Wine Notes

Wine Notes

Background:
‘Alexander Munro’ Shiraz is our flagship wine and made from the best parcel of shiraz fruit we receive each year. Alexander Munro was winemaker Rhys Eather’s great-great-grandfather and these true reserve wines are released only in years that reflect the status of the label.

Fruit Source:
Situated in Pokolbin, the ‘Ivanhoe’ vineyard is the Shiraz source for this wine and has been consistently the best since 2001. The vines have an average age of 40 years, with some much older and are dry land grown, ensuring low yields and high quality.

Fermentation & Maturation:
Hand picked fruit was crushed into open vats and plunged twice daily to optimize flavour and tannin extraction. The wine was then pressed out and transferred into French oak barriques of which 40% was new. After 20 months of maturation the wine was lightly egg white fined and then bottled with minimal filtration.

Winemakers Comments:
2005 was a hassle free vintage with everything falling into place bar a few isolated storms towards vintage end. Hot and dry conditions in January led to early ripening. The low yields meant that the fruit became both phenolgically and sugar ripe together which led to fruit with great balance, a trait seen in the finished wines.

Intense crimson colour, masses of ripe fruit and hints of spice and chocolate on the nose. The palate is medium to full-bodied; lush and rich with blackberry and creamy oak. This wine has an enormously long finish and is perfectly balanced.

Cellaring: This wine has all the hallmarks that are required for long term cellaring.

Selected for QANTAS 1st Class International In-flight Service.

What the experts say

"I have tasted both the 05 Hell Hole and 05 Alexander Munro a couple of times now and while I have a preference (mainly stylistic rather than qualitative) for the Hell Hole (96-97 points) this is also a fantastic wine. The fruit comes from Steven Drayton’s “Ivanhoe” vineyard off 40 year old dry land vines. The grapes always come in at a higher baume than those from the old vine (similar age) Howard family “Somerset” vineyard which is the fruit source for the Hell Hole shiraz. I think this will be released around June this year.

Dark wine. Aromas of blackberry, tar, earth, dark chocolate, licorice and fine spicy vanilla oak. A full bodied palate flooded with blackberry, cherry, bitter dark chocolate, earth and licorice flavours. It has masses of ripe fat tannins hiding under the velvet covers of dark fruit. It is powerful but beautifully balanced. Some warmth from alcohol but nothing heavy or intrusive. Enormous length of flavour. It would be foolish (but possible) to drink this now. It looks half Barossa and half Hunter at the moment but given time the magnificent vintage and unique terroir of the Hunter Valley will shine through. A modern masterpiece". Rated: 95+ points.

Gary Walsh - Winorama - May 2007.

“Brilliant. Beefy, sweet, laced with chocolaty oak, blessed with plummy fruit and fleshed out with that trademark, cherried, Hunter earthiness. It is clean as a whistle, ripened to perfection, ridiculously well structured and long. Something for everyone here. It’s robust, elegant, and regional. Drink: 2011-2018”. 96 points.

Campbell Mattinson - The Wine Front - June 2007

This is big for a Hunter shiraz; deep and assertive with density. Smoky, charred barrel and coconut over dark cherry and plum. It's impressively proportioned. Best 2010 to 2020. 93/100.

Huon Hooke - SMH Good Living

Other vintages: 2007 2006 2004 2003 2002 2001 1999 1998 1997

Latest News

2010 Hunter Valley Wine Show

20 Aug 2010

Meerea Park has had another successful Hunter Valley Wine Show winning 3 Gold, 2 Silver and 8 Bronze medals. 2010 is the 8th year in a row that we have won at least one Gold medal in this Wine Show.

Below are the medal winning wines.

2004 'Alexander Munro' Semillon - Gold - Class 15
2007 'Alexander Munro' Semillon - Gold - Class 27
2006 'Alexander Munro' Semillon - Gold - Class 32
1999 'Alexander Munro' Semillon - Silver - Class 22
2009 'Alexander Munro' Semillon - Silver - Class 32
2010 Verdelho - Bronze - Class 6
2009 'XYZ' Semillon - Bronze - Class 10
2009 'XYZ' Chardonnay - Bronze - Class 11
2006 'Howard Vineyard' Shiraz - Bronze - Class 13
2005 'Terracotta' Semillon - Bronze - Class 15
2006 'Alexander Munro' Shiraz - Bronze - Class 31
2008 'Alexander Munro' Semillon - Bronze - Class 32
2009 'Alexander Munro' Chardonnay - Bronze - Class 33

2011 Australian Wine Companion

29 Jul 2010

The 2011 edition of James Halliday's Australian Wine Companion was released yesterday with Meerea Park again being very highly awarded. Below is a summary of the ratings with the full reviews available at each individual wine's page.

2005 'Terracotta' Semillon - 96
2007 'Alexander Munro' Shiraz - 96
2008 'XYZ' Shiraz - 95
2009 'Hell Hole' Semillon - 94
2005 'Alexander Munro' Semillon - 94
2007 'Hell Hole' Shiraz - 94
2007 'Terracotta' Shiraz - 94
1999 'Alexander Munro' Shiraz - 94
2007 'The Aunts' Shiraz - 93
2008 Shiraz - 93
2009 'Alexander Munro' Chardonnay - 93
2009 'XYZ' Chardonnay - 93
2009 'XYZ' Semillon - 90

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Latest Releases

2010 Verdelho

2010 Semillon Sauvignon Blanc

2009 Shiraz

2005 'Alexander Munro' Semillon

2005 'Terracotta' Semillon

2008 'XYZ' Shiraz

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Latest Reviews

"Today, Meerea Park's wines are some of the finest in the region, in fact the whites are some of the best of their type in the country".

Tim White - Australian Financial Review - 14th August 2009

"Delicious green-gold colour. Perfect mix of primary and secondary flavours. Hay, lanolin, lemon zest and lime. Great complexity. Great freshness. Length is good. The marvel of good Hunter Valley semillon? This is an example."Rated : 93 Points

Campbell Mattinson - The Winefront - 3rd September 2010

2002 'Alexander Munro' Semillon

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Wines & Tasing Notes

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